Paul Fletcher (Bradfield, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Government Services and the Digital Economy) Share this | Hansard source

Bill Shorten has left the building, but the damage that he has done will linger on. We know that what Labor wants to do—and is in the course of doing—is put on 36,000 additional public servants, $24 billion of extra cost. Services Australia, for which he had responsibility, is at the epicentre of this. The head count of Services Australia has gone up from 32,310 in 30 June 2022 to 33,554. So we've seen a strong increase in head count, but service levels have gone down. The average time taken to process an age pension claim has more than doubled. In 2021-22, it took on average 35 days. In 2023-24, it took 76 days. The average wait time when you called the older Australians line was 14 minutes and 14 seconds in 2021-22, and 44 minutes and 31 seconds in 2023-24. So what is Bill Shorten's record? This is typical of Labor's approach to productivity in government. Productivity has collapsed. Services Australia has more staff doing less work, processing fewer overall claims. Service delivery outcomes have become worse. Do not believe this incorrect claim from the other side that there's a one-to-one correlation between people and outcomes; under Bill Shorten, it has been the reverse.

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